Veterans For America

Afghanistan, where we will be for the long term, is getting more violent and that trends are moving “in the wrong direction,” according to Gen. David Petraeus, the incoming head of U.S. Central Command. Petraeus also insists that no one can use “victory” to describe the situation in Iraq, despite the assertions of some politicians in the heat of campaign season otherwise. Iraqis themselves don’t use that word to describe current events in their country — especially doctors, who have been targeted for killings since 2003 and are now permitted to carry guns for self-protection. Without political reconciliation in Iraq — the stated goal of the surge — and the improvement of basic services such as electricity and potable water, Iraq could explode anew. If the administration had avoided launching war in Iraq, would we have captured bin Laden?

With both wars continuing, however, we continue to deploy our National Guard at breakneck speed. The latest to deploy to fill in the gaps in our ever-strained active-duty military are from Illinois. One in every four of Illinois’ citizen-Soldiers is deploying, the most since World War II. 

Appreciate the limits of military power, says Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Perhaps the U.S. erred in relying so heavily on big, expensive, complex weapons systems, he asked. To put it in even deeper perspective: the Pentagon is expected to spend at least $295 billion in cost overruns on its major weapons programs — how much better could we care for our wounded troops with that money?  

The Army creates a suicide prevention board. After Iraq, battlefield decisions haunt troops even when they’ve returned home. 

Military families need help getting out of debt. This economy is hard on everyone, but even more so on our military families who have at least one bread-winner deployed and children still to raise. “When I leave, it’s going to leave a hole,” said one soon-to-deploy parent.

Sen. Barack Obama writes to the VA Secretary seeking critical data on Iraq and Afghanistan vets to improve veteran services. Is the VA failing too many of our veterans?